Letter-carrier&#39;s table.



No. 053,004. 1 Patented July s, |900.

c. c. FIELDS. LETTER GABRIERS TABLE.

(Application led Apr. 24, 1900.)

(N0 Model.)

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NIT-ED STATES ATENT Fries.

CHARLES o. FIELDS, or BALTIMORE,V` MARYLAND.

L1A-:11T E R- CARRIERFS TAB LE.

SPECIFICATION fongingpa'rt of Letters Patent No. 653,004, dated July 3, 1900. Application filed April v24, 1900. Serial No. 14,100. (No modrl.)

T0 @ZZ whom, it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES C. FIELDS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letter-Carriers Tables, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in routing-tables for letter-carriers use, and has for its object to provide a table of this character which Will assist and expedite a lettercarriers work and which will be of cheap and simple construction.

Preparatory to going out upon his route a carrier is obliged to arrange his papers and letters according to streets and the numbers of houses on the streets, which is called routing, and considerable difficulty has heretofore been occasioned in providing suitable means for assisting the carrier to arrange his mail in the orderly manner necessary.

The invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the parts hereinafter fully, described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this speciiicatiomA in which- Figure lis afront elevation of myimproved routing-table with a part broken away. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section of the table on the line @o @o of Fig. 1, illustrating the means for automatically keeping the papersupporting slide extended. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the table-top, illustrating the paper and letter supporting slides; and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of the table-top, showing the letter-supporting slides.

Referring to the drawings, A designates the top of the table, which is provided near one side with a guideway a, whose side walls are undercut, as shown in Fig. 1, and which opens at its rear end into a Wella', extending below the top. A newspaper-supporting extensible slide B fits accurately in the guideway a, with its upper surface flush With the -upper surface of the top A, and the rear portion of the said slide is composed of slats h on a flexible strip b' and is adapted to slide in the Wella', being drawn down into the well by a contractile spring d2, which is secured to the lowermost slat and the bottom of the well. The slide B is also provided with a stop-plate 'h2 at its front endy to prevent the papers falling off the slide at such point.

C designates a longitudinally-extending series of beveled notches on the under side of the slide B, in anyone of which a springpressed catch in the form of a sliding bolt D,

on the front of the' table below the top, is adapted to fit to hold the slide when extended to different points against the action of the spring a2. The bolt D has a beveled end ol, which slides over the beveled walls of the Vnotches C as the slide is extended.

being understood that the slide B is at the inner limit of its movement, he hooks his strap on the hook E and lays the strap along the slide. He then takes the newspapers and lays them in proper order over the strap on the slide, and as the number of papers increases he draws out the slide farther and farther, the bolt D sliding over the notches C and automatically holding the slide extended. When the carriers quota of newspapers for his trip is completed, he unhooks the end of his strap and binds them into a bundle. The bolt D is then withdrawn, and the spring a2 vdraws the slide back into inner position.

In the table-top A, at one side of and at a suitable distance from the paper-supporting slide B, twoguidewaysfare formed, having their outer walls undercut and being separated by a guiding-strip F. In these guideways are iitted two letter-supporting slides G, each slide being formed with a longitudinally-recessed side edge g, which lies over the guiding-strip F and abuts against the corresponding side edge of the otherstrip.

H designates a stop-plate secured to one end of each slide G and adapted to hold the letters upright on their edges as they are being arranged.

. Supported above the table-top A is a rectangular frame K, whose vertical members are formed with horizontal grooves, and L designates a filing-case divided into a number of pigeonholes and having side stripsI itted to slide in said grooves, so that the case may be drawn outward toward the letter-car- IOO rier in order that he may conveniently file mail therein and then push the case back into the frame K.

I designates a stop on the bottom of the case adapted to abut against a similar stop I72 on the frame to limit the outward movement of the case L.

It will be seen that I have provided a very complete device forletter-carriers uses,which is simple in construction and which will greatly aid the carrier in routing and iling his mail.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Adevice of the characterdescribed, comprising a table having a top formed with a guideway and a well into which the guideway opens, a paper-supporting slide itted in said guideway iiush with the upper surface of the table-top and having a flexible rear portion arranged in the well, the lower face of said slide being formed with notches, a spring secured to the iiexible portion of said slide and adapted to draw the same into the well, anda spring-pressed catch on the front of the table below the top and adapted to take into the notches to hold the slide at various extensions.

2. In a device of thecharacter described,a

table having a top formed with a guideway and a well extending below the top into which the rear of the guideway opens, a paper-supporting slide fitted in said guideway flush with the upper surface of the table-top and having a slatted rear portion movable in the well, said slide being also formed with a series of notches extending from the slatted portion to the front end of the slide, a stopplate at the front end of the slide, a contractile spring secured to the lowermost slat and the bottom of the well and adapted to draw the slide inward, and a spring-pressed sliding bolt on the front of the table below the top and adapted to take into the notches to hold the slide at various extensions.

3. A letter-carriers table formed with two guideways f and a guiding-strip F separating said guideways, and two letter-supporting slides fitted in said guideways and each of which is formed with a recessed side edge ly- 

